# Shark Attacks **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 4, 2001, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shark-attacks/79691 "2001-09-04T17:06:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Quasimodem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Quasimodem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quasimodem)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2001, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shark-attacks/79691/1 "2001-09-04T17:06:07Z")
Okay, you’ve gone to the beach. Unless you’ve been to Mars, you _must_ have heard about the numerous attacks and deaths of late. If you _have_ and still decide to go into the water, that increases your risk of being bitten by what, 100% over staying on the beach? It’s a no-brainer, isn’t it? From what I have been able to gather from news reports, no one has a clue as to why the sharks are currently so concentrated. Is it a problem of supply and demand, who knows? Disagree if you must, (that’s why I posted here), but as much as I love the ocean, my grandson will play in the motel pool for now. Quasi ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2001, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shark-attacks/79691/2 "2001-09-04T17:08:54Z")
Well, we’ll probably hear that Baby Ruth encounters are on the rise then. Duuuum dum, duum dum dum dum… ---
**Author:** ![Gorgon\_Heap](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/f475e1/32.png) [@Gorgon\_Heap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gorgon_Heap)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2001, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shark-attacks/79691/3 "2001-09-04T17:59:25Z")
Hee hee heeeeeeee. I was just mentally smacking my forehead at these fools this morning. I hate the beach. Last time I was there - on my honeymoon - my wife went in for a nice long swim, splashing and playing in the waves, while I went no farther that ankle-deep, was wearing a long-sleeve shirt, a hat and kept myself wrapped up a my towell. I don’t at all get what people see in skin-crispening, cancer-producing sunblaze (err, light) while frolicking in fish piss. Now that there have been several deaths and numerous attacks, you’d think people would start to get a little more conservative with their beach activities. C’mon, people! Haven’t you ever seen Jaws??? ---
**Author:** ![tevya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/4491bb/32.png) [@tevya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tevya)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2001, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shark-attacks/79691/4 "2001-09-04T18:23:00Z")
I’m not sure if there is a true increase in the number of shark attacks or not. Several people have posted statistics in other threads on this topic. Those statistics seem to indicate that the number of actual shark attacks is less this year than in previous years. That being said, there is still no way you will get me to swim in the ocean. I’m already abnormally afraid of being attacked by creatures in the water. The recent publicity has just allowed me to rationalize and deepen these fears. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2001, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shark-attacks/79691/5 "2001-09-04T19:12:57Z")
Yeah, sharks, not to mention sting rays, jelly fish, and all of nature’s oceanic cesspool. Maybe chlorine ain’t “eau naturel” but I’m sticking with it, thank ye very much. Anyway it’s been years since I have gone to the beach, so I can live without it. ---
**Author:** ![Wildest\_Bill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Wildest\_Bill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wildest_Bill)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2001, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shark-attacks/79691/6 "2001-09-04T19:53:05Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by tevya \* > That being said, there is still no way you will get me to swim in the ocean. I’m already abnormally afraid of being attacked by creatures in the water. The recent publicity has just allowed me to rationalize and deepen these fears. \*\* That’s why we should kill every man eating shark within a 150 mile radius from the shore. Howard Stern even thinks we need to do them in. I mean I don’t miss dinosaurs either. ---
**Author:** ![Heath\_Doolin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Heath\_Doolin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Heath_Doolin)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2001, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shark-attacks/79691/7 "2001-09-04T20:05:03Z")
Yutz They dont eat man…and often its really on accident. I got bitten by a nurse shark when I stepped on it as it sunbathed. 20 stitches but I dont blame the shark. Anyway, its become crazy lately simply because the news is reporting everything. Hell the old man ‘attacked’ last week got a skin burn as the shark passed by his ankle (sharkskin is like sandpaper). Anyway, shark attacks are actually DOWN from last year. ---
**Author:** ![pldennison](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/9fc29f/32.png) [@pldennison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pldennison)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2001, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shark-attacks/79691/8 "2001-09-04T20:12:38Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Quasimodem \* > **From what I have been able to gather from news reports, no one has a clue as to why the sharks are currently so concentrated. Is it a problem of supply and demand, who knows?** Noone has a clue becaue they **aren’t**. The two fatalities this past weekend were the only two fatalities in U.S. waters from unprovoked shark attacks this year. Last year there was one fatality in U.S. waters (out of 51 attacks). The year before, there were no fatalities in the U.S. in 37 attacks. Before that, one fatality in 26 attacks. Nothing out of the ordinary here. Just more sensationalized reporting. (Go figure.) ---
**Author:** ![LouisB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/dfb087/32.png) [@LouisB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LouisB)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2001, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shark-attacks/79691/9 "2001-09-05T00:07:29Z")
I saw a tabloid headline claiming that Castro had trained a bunch of sharks to bite yankee imperialists. Makes as much sense as saying we should kill them all. ---
**Author:** ![Darwins\_Finch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darwins_finch/32/20304_2.png) [@Darwins\_Finch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darwins_Finch)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2001, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shark-attacks/79691/10 "2001-09-05T00:57:56Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Wildest Bill \* > \*\*I mean I don’t miss dinosaurs either. \*\* Ya cain’t miss what y’ain’t never _seen_, Billy! ---
**Author:** ![kniz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c37758/32.png) [@kniz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kniz)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2001, 5:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shark-attacks/79691/11 "2001-09-05T05:49:06Z")
[list][list][list][list][list][list][list] **The Sierra Club** [list]:rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Cazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cazzle/32/75_2.png) [@Cazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cazzle)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2001, 5:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shark-attacks/79691/12 "2001-09-05T05:58:30Z")
I don’t get why everyone seems to be so panicked about sharks this year. You don’t want to be bitten by a shark - don’t swim in his living room. The day a shark comes out of the water and attacks someone on land is the day I’ll back calls to start culling them. ---
**Author:** ![tevya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/4491bb/32.png) [@tevya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tevya)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2001, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shark-attacks/79691/13 "2001-09-05T13:12:49Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Wildest Bill \* > \*\* > > > [@](#): > > > > \*Originally posted by tevya \* > > That being said, there is still no way you will get me to swim in the ocean. I’m already abnormally afraid of being attacked by creatures in the water. The recent publicity has just allowed me to rationalize and deepen these fears. \*\* > > That’s why we should kill every man eating shark within a 150 mile radius from the shore. Howard Stern even thinks we need to do them in. I mean I don’t miss dinosaurs either. \*\* Yipes! I do not agree with this or advocate this **at all!** My fear is **abnormal** and **irrational.** The sharks (and other creepy sea creatures) are just doing what they do. I don’t believe in extreme measures simply to accomodate my psychological quirks. If I did, my own personal super highway system would have been built a long time ago. ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2001, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shark-attacks/79691/14 "2001-09-05T13:37:18Z")
Psssst, **Teyva** , pay him no never mind, he get’s that way, sort of the SDMB’s own Yosemite Sam: “I’ll get them varmints…yada, yada, yada” Here’s a link to a [decent news story on the subject](http://www.sptimes.com/News/090501/Worldandnation/Sharks_cause_for_caut.shtml) that’s a bit more scientific and a tad less alarmist. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2001, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shark-attacks/79691/15 "2001-09-05T13:41:25Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Wildest Bill \* > \*\*kill every man eating shark within a 150 mile radius from the shore. \*\* How are you gonna find them? ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2001, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shark-attacks/79691/16 "2001-09-05T13:45:43Z")
Guys, Bill was joking. Geez, take the hooks out of your mouths. The spate of shark deaths is a darned good reason to come to the Great Lakes next summer. Great cottaging up on Georgian Bay. You should all look into it. No sharks, jellyfish, or barracuda there. ---
**Author:** ![tevya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/4491bb/32.png) [@tevya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tevya)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2001, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shark-attacks/79691/17 "2001-09-05T14:02:16Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by RickJay \* > \*\*The spate of shark deaths is a darned good reason to come to the Great Lakes next summer. Great cottaging up on Georgian Bay. You should all look into it. No sharks, jellyfish, or barracuda there. \*\* I normally spend some time at a cottage in the Georgian Bay each summer. It is very beautiful. Because of my freaky fear of large bodies of water, though I still get a little creeped out about swimming in the lake. Not as creeped out as in the ocean but creeped out none the less. I’m always kind of paranoid that a lampry or leach is going to attach itself to me. That or some previously undiscovered lake monster is going to eat me. Or maybe some one dumped his unwanted pet piranhas in the lake. Believe me, I **know** these are irrational fears but they truly do strike real terror in to me. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2001, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shark-attacks/79691/18 "2001-09-05T14:26:01Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by RickJay \* > \*\* come to the Great Lakes next summer. jellyfish, or \*\* Maybe we can help carry some steel across the lake?